Addis Ababa — The 6th Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX), an international initiative that aims to standardize and modernize mechanisms and processes for the exchange of statistical data and metadata among international organisations and their member countries, kicks off in Addis Ababa Monday.
ECA's African Centre for Statistics (ACS) Director, Oliver Chinganya, says the Economic Commission for Africa and its partners are excited to be hosting the conference which will run from 2 to 5 October 2017.
"This is the first time that the conference is being held in Africa and it allows us to discuss important issues, for example, how do we facilitate data and metadata exchange; enhance availability of statistical data and metadata for users; software developments; data reporting, dissemination and sharing which are very crucial for our development," said Mr. Chinganya.
He says this year's conference is being hosted jointly by the ECA and the African Development Bank (AfDB) under the theme; "SDMX for the Data Revolution", adding capacity building training sessions have also been factored in for participants.
Topics for this year's event include global data sharing, data validation, applying SDMX to improve statistical business processes, SDMX infrastructure and tools and SDMX and global standardization.
Participants will also learn what the AfDB's experience has been thus far with the African Information Highway; SDMX support in the build-up of the East African Monetary Union and SDMX implementation challenges and opportunities from the industry's view, among many other topics.
The use of the Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange standard to harmonize data collection and dissemination for the joint African Statistical Yearbook is another major subject that will be tackled by the ECA and how to use SDMX to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
The SDMX is sponsored by seven international organisations including the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the European Central Bank (ECB), Eurostat (Statistical Office of the European Union), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD), and the World Bank.
